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Upgrading a 2-3 year old prebuilt PC?

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August 24, 2014 4:16:31 PM

Hey,

So I'm posting this a 2nd time as the first time I didn't supply enough information so I thought I'd give this a 2nd go hoping to get somewhere.

I have this old Packard Bell PC which I'd like to upgrade for my gaming needs.

Situation I'm in - about half a year ago I bought an expensive-ish laptop for my studying and travelling needs which suites the purpose well, but gaming on it puts far too much stress on it and the built in GPU definitely doesn't suffice. This Packard Bell seems to be too far behind to really be worth upgrading (in my opinion, but I've never built my own PC or anything so all help is much appreciated) and for around 200euros more than what I estimated it would cost to get it back into shape, I can get a decent/budget custom PC with room to upgrade in the future. The issue is that my parent will not allow me to purchase a 2nd computer (my money, of course). I explained to them that the state of which this Packard bell is in, it's basically the same as buying a new PC (In my opinion, again) but they leave me with the option of upgrading the old PC or nothing.

So, time to turn this thing into something usable around a budget PC equivalent (hopefully)

Specs I know of -

CPU - Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU 650 @ 3.20GHz

RAM - 6144 MB DDR3 SDRAM 665MHz (3 cards of 2GB, seemed to be made by Samsung but not sure)

*note* Please excuse my really crappy explanation of this - the 3 2gb RAM cards are plugged into the motherboard in black and blue bar/slots/things. I think that 2 blues are occupied and one black is occupied (hopefully you guys understand what I mean)

Graphics card - Nvidia GeForce GT 420

Motherboard - Some stock Packard Bell motherboard, I believe it is called iextreme M5800

PSU - No clue but I assume it's wattage us around 600.

Case - Tiny case which must be replaced

HDD - 5400RPM 1TB (2x 500GB hard drives)

I live in Belgium so highly pref if components are linked from websites that ship to Belgium easily or are Belgian websites (Netherlands, France, Germany etc work too).
Belgian websites I know - www.pixmania.be and www.alternate.be

Please help me get this thing going again. Currently I can spend about 450 euros or so but can spend another 100-200 more in a month or two.

I'd prefer if you mentioned what I need to upgrade first (as in order of importance) please :) 

Thanks a ton!








More about : upgrading year prebuilt

August 24, 2014 4:26:52 PM

Str8Pimpinn said:
Hey,

So I'm posting this a 2nd time as the first time I didn't supply enough information so I thought I'd give this a 2nd go hoping to get somewhere.

I have this old Packard Bell PC which I'd like to upgrade for my gaming needs.

Situation I'm in - about half a year ago I bought an expensive-ish laptop for my studying and travelling needs which suites the purpose well, but gaming on it puts far too much stress on it and the built in GPU definitely doesn't suffice. This Packard Bell seems to be too far behind to really be worth upgrading (in my opinion, but I've never built my own PC or anything so all help is much appreciated) and for around 200euros more than what I estimated it would cost to get it back into shape, I can get a decent/budget custom PC with room to upgrade in the future. The issue is that my parent will not allow me to purchase a 2nd computer (my money, of course). I explained to them that the state of which this Packard bell is in, it's basically the same as buying a new PC (In my opinion, again) but they leave me with the option of upgrading the old PC or nothing.

So, time to turn this thing into something usable around a budget PC equivalent (hopefully)

Specs I know of -

CPU - Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU 650 @ 3.20GHz

RAM - 6144 MB DDR3 SDRAM 665MHz (3 cards of 2GB, seemed to be made by Samsung but not sure)

*note* Please excuse my really crappy explanation of this - the 3 2gb RAM cards are plugged into the motherboard in black and blue bar/slots/things. I think that 2 blues are occupied and one black is occupied (hopefully you guys understand what I mean)

Graphics card - Nvidia GeForce GT 420

Motherboard - Some stock Packard Bell motherboard, I believe it is called iextreme M5800

PSU - No clue but I assume it's wattage us around 600.

Case - Tiny case which must be replaced

HDD - 5400RPM 1TB (2x 500GB hard drives)

I live in Belgium so highly pref if components are linked from websites that ship to Belgium easily or are Belgian websites (Netherlands, France, Germany etc work too).
Belgian websites I know - www.pixmania.be and www.alternate.be

Please help me get this thing going again. Currently I can spend about 450 euros or so but can spend another 100-200 more in a month or two.

I'd prefer if you mentioned what I need to upgrade first (as in order of importance) please :) 

Thanks a ton!










I would not assume your PSU is 600w as most prebuilts come with 250w to 300w PSU.

IMO:

1) Add an SSD for an immediate boost of Windows loading and Programs starting

2) Add a GTX 750ti for a huge boost in graphics performance.
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August 24, 2014 4:35:38 PM

drkatz42 said:
Str8Pimpinn said:
Hey,

So I'm posting this a 2nd time as the first time I didn't supply enough information so I thought I'd give this a 2nd go hoping to get somewhere.

I have this old Packard Bell PC which I'd like to upgrade for my gaming needs.

Situation I'm in - about half a year ago I bought an expensive-ish laptop for my studying and travelling needs which suites the purpose well, but gaming on it puts far too much stress on it and the built in GPU definitely doesn't suffice. This Packard Bell seems to be too far behind to really be worth upgrading (in my opinion, but I've never built my own PC or anything so all help is much appreciated) and for around 200euros more than what I estimated it would cost to get it back into shape, I can get a decent/budget custom PC with room to upgrade in the future. The issue is that my parent will not allow me to purchase a 2nd computer (my money, of course). I explained to them that the state of which this Packard bell is in, it's basically the same as buying a new PC (In my opinion, again) but they leave me with the option of upgrading the old PC or nothing.

So, time to turn this thing into something usable around a budget PC equivalent (hopefully)

Specs I know of -

CPU - Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU 650 @ 3.20GHz

RAM - 6144 MB DDR3 SDRAM 665MHz (3 cards of 2GB, seemed to be made by Samsung but not sure)

*note* Please excuse my really crappy explanation of this - the 3 2gb RAM cards are plugged into the motherboard in black and blue bar/slots/things. I think that 2 blues are occupied and one black is occupied (hopefully you guys understand what I mean)

Graphics card - Nvidia GeForce GT 420

Motherboard - Some stock Packard Bell motherboard, I believe it is called iextreme M5800

PSU - No clue but I assume it's wattage us around 600.

Case - Tiny case which must be replaced

HDD - 5400RPM 1TB (2x 500GB hard drives)

I live in Belgium so highly pref if components are linked from websites that ship to Belgium easily or are Belgian websites (Netherlands, France, Germany etc work too).
Belgian websites I know - www.pixmania.be and www.alternate.be

Please help me get this thing going again. Currently I can spend about 450 euros or so but can spend another 100-200 more in a month or two.

I'd prefer if you mentioned what I need to upgrade first (as in order of importance) please :) 

Thanks a ton!










I would not assume your PSU is 600w as most prebuilts come with 250w to 300w PSU.

IMO:

1) Add an SSD for an immediate boost of Windows loading and Programs starting

2) Add a GTX 750ti for a huge boost in graphics performance.


I searched for this specific old desktop for a while on the internet and someone had mentioned it was 600W so that's why I mentioned it. Thanks for your suggestions, I was looking at the GTX 750 TI myself.
I was wondering how useful it's current processor is and should I be looking to upgrade it. And do you know if the GTX 750 TI suites the motherboard?

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August 24, 2014 6:14:59 PM

Your motherboard accommodates a PCI-E GPU, the GTX 750ti will work well and it has very low power requirements. You have a first gen i5(5th gen is on the way), I would leave it in place unless you're looking for a completely new build.
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August 25, 2014 2:00:10 AM

drkatz42 said:
Your motherboard accommodates a PCI-E GPU, the GTX 750ti will work well and it has very low power requirements. You have a first gen i5(5th gen is on the way), I would leave it in place unless you're looking for a completely new build.


Hmm sounds like good idea for now. I could always get a AMD Richland A10 6800K (4x 4100 MHz) Quad Corecas they're pretty cheap and then a motherboard for that after I get the 750 TI and SSD. This'll let me get future upgrades and all.
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August 30, 2014 8:50:32 PM

Adding a better GPU to that rig will definitely help. The Nvidia GT cards are quite weak and cannot handle any real gaming loads. The 750 TI is a pretty capable low power card. If I remember correctly, it uses roughly 70 Watts under load, and performs on par with an R7 260X which uses roughly 40 more Watts, but is cheaper and overclocks better. It should be noted that an R7 265 (Re branded and tweaked HD7850) will beat either of them quite readily, but uses even more power ( Roughly130 Watts?), and costs about $25 more in most cases. Any of those 3 cards will play most games at medium to high detail settings at 1600X900 resolution, maybe even 1920x1080 if some settings are lowered such as AA. Of the 3, the 265 is the clear winner for raw performance, but is the most power hungry and the largest. The 750 TI is the smallest and uses the least power, has strong performance, but will run into bottlenecks at higher resolutions and higher levels of AA due to its 128 bit memory interface. If you have a budget of $150, the R7 265 is the overall winner, if you want to spend a bit less, or build a Micro ATX rig in the future, the 750 TI is the winner. Keep in mind that these 3 cards are higher end budget cards, and there are cards much faster at around $200.

As far as the RAM and CPU are concerned, you should be good there for now, although you are better off running 2 sticks of RAM in dual channel (2 slots) rather than odd numbers in most cases. If you wanted to upgrade your RAM, you could get 2 4GB sticks, which of course can be re used in a new build later along with the GPU. That CPU is dated, but should be enough to handle a mid grade GPU with little or no real bottle necking. It is slightly slower than newer i3's such as the 3220, and a newer i5 such as a 3570k or 4670k will stomp it.

An SSD is an excellent upgrade to any system, and will make it run much faster and smoother in and around the O.S., but if you were to go that route, you would need to have a copy of windows to install on it so you could use it as a boot drive while using your regular hard drive for mass storage and games. You could also buy one to use as a cache drive for the hard drive you have now, if the SSD is sold as a cache drive it will usually come with the software required for it to work that way. The cache drive method works quite well, but buying one to use as a boot drive is a better option.

If you do a GPU upgrade, a new power supply is highly recommended, even with a 750 TI. Most OEM builders only use power supplies that are only powerful enough to run what the computer came with, and are rarely more than 350-400 Watts unless the rig is a prebuilt gaming rig from Origin PC or Cyberpower PC. You will be able to add RAM or another hard drive and it will power that, but anything more will likely kill it. On top of that, standard prebuilt PC power supplies are bulk units, and are usually not certified so they may even deliver less power than what they are supposed to. Not to mention that as they heat up, they are less efficient and may deliver less due to heat. For any of the 3 GPU's I listed, a Corsair CX 500 is plenty and is about $50. At times, the CX 600 will go on sale for $35 or so after a rebate. I've used the CX series for a few builds and have yet to have a complaint or a failed unit. It's worth spending the extra money to ensure the power supply doesn't light up and take other components with it. I've seen cheap OEM supplies actually start on fire when they are loaded too much, at the least, it will probably die and the PC will randomly shut down to protect itself.

And lastly, if planning for a future ground up build, you are better off with AMD FX CPU's for a budget machine. The A series APU's with the built in GPU such as a Richland are nice for a daily use web browsing PC, budget gaming machine, or an HTPC build, but are not optimal for use with a discrete GPU such as the 750 TI. An FX 6300 will perform much better at roughly the same price point, and will sometimes go on sale for below $100.

That turned into a bit of an essay:lol: , but hopefully it was helpful!
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